9 Shall Rise: a Phoenix on the Fault Line Novel by Chip Strohs

Author:Chip Strohs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2013-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

The Celebration May Have Been Early

We were just mapping out the bridge of Quantum Mile of Nasty when the sirens went off. We were playing the chugging progression toward the end of the song, and because of the volume and intensity, we didn't register we were in danger. I heard the wailing discordant alarm, but I just assumed that one of the other guys had come up with some discordant new part they were trying out. That happens a lot in our jam sessions. It wasn't till Freak activated the emergency warning lights that we clued in to what was going on.

"What is it?" Tony yelled over Nate, who was still jamming the song, zoned out. "The Authority track us down already?"

"Yes" Freak answered, "And…NATE, could you please stop playing? Thank you. They have friends. I'm detecting sixteen ships moving toward our position. A joint fleet of Authority and Thraxonian forces. They will be here in approximately 4.983 minutes. I'm sorry, gentlemen. I have no idea how they tracked us down. I thought we'd managed to evade detection."

"Nothing we can do about it now!" Ocho yelled. "But it was a pain in the ass taking out four of those things. Our shields haven't even had time to recharge!"

We dropped our instruments as he spoke and ran toward our positions. Darby, Ocho, Andy, and Prospect went back to their turrets, the rest of us headed for the bridge. Freak opened a ship wide communications channel, anticipating our needs, while breaking down the situation for us.

"It is not likely we will defeat a fleet this large, even if we were at full strength. The Thraxonian ships have poor defensive capabilities, but their weapons are still effective. The main concern is the Human Authority destroyer class vessel. One on one, it could be done. With so many others with them, victory is unlikely."

"So we've got one M16, and they have four hundred .22 rifles." said Andy.

"That would be an acceptable analogy." Freak answered.

"Exactly how unlikely is a win here?" I asked as I stepped onto the bridge.

"Approximately 1,943,741,331,775 to 1." Freak answered.

"Guess that means we're running." James said. "Freak, get us out of here."

"I anticipated that request and am already moving at maximum speed, but I am afraid that doesn't give us much hope. This fleet is capable of matching us, and believe it or not, at these rates of motion, the Universe is a relatively small place. They will be able to divide their forces, and eventually corner us. They have already begun. Like a game of chess, it's only a matter of time before they have us in check mate."

"Can we jump?" I asked. "Get out of this reality to somewhere they can't track us?"

"We would need to power down our standard engines in order for the jump drive to perform that function." Freak answered. "If we tried, the fleet would be on us long before a jump could be made. If our shields held out, it might work. If they don't, the authority ships would be able to prevent a jump with a frequency interference burst.

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